The Dwarf

Pocket Opera

Libretto by Georg C. Klaren
Translated by Viktor Jugovic after ‘The Birthday of the Infanta’ by Oscar Wilde

Music by Alexander Zemlinsky

Sung in English

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A powerful journey of innocence, illusion, and heartbreak. A Sultan has sent a dwarf as a present to a Spanish princess on her birthday. His tender feelings begin to blossom into love for her, but instead she toys with him and offers him a white rose in amusement. Unaware of his appearance, he mistakes it for a sign of affection. Heartbroken and left alone, he discovers a mirror, sees his own reflection and dies clutching the white rose. Zemlinsky’s lush, late-Romantic score drew inspiration from the painful end of his relationship with Alma Mahler.